LÉGER FERNAND (1881-1955).

Lot 131
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Estimation :
1200 - 1500 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 5 850EUR
LÉGER FERNAND (1881-1955).
L.A.S. "Ton gros FLéger" with DRAWING, Verdun "Ravin de Bazile" November 12, 1916, to Jeanne LOHY; 3 pages in-8 in pencil, envelope to "Madame Léger", poste restante in Lyon. Letter from the front near Verdun, with drawing, to his wartime godmother and future wife. [Jeanne LOHY (1895-1950), met before the war in artistic circles, was the wartime godmother of Fernand Léger, who officially married her in 1919]. He no longer knows where his Janot is; she had to leave "this charming country of Beaume-les-Bains", and he named the ravine where he is "this delicious name [...] At the bottom of the ravine there are enormous shell holes full of water from which we go to draw water (here we touch I think I told you a quarter of water per day and per man) so I am drawing my fourth day from this ravine of Beaume-les-Bains since it is located at the water's edge. Yesterday my vaguemaster, the man who is in charge of taking down and bringing up the letters, had half his head taken off by a shell. I went to pick him up he had just left me not five minutes ago. He had just the bottom half of his face left with the teeth underneath something like this [drawing of the head] with a little hair behind it. I never had such a horrible impression in all that I saw. [...] All the wounded go through my ravine. It doesn't stop day or night. What a pitiful parade [...] You have to have been to Verdun to know how far human misery and suffering can go, it is unheard of. Think that from where I am, a wounded man must be carried on his shoulder for 4 kilometers on a path that is barely marked out and continually beaten by artillery. Do you think of that poor devil all bleeding all covered with mud and cold or soaked by the rain 4 kilometers it takes 2 ½ to 3 hours before reaching the medical cars. It's a desert you know Verdun, a desert made by modern artillery where there's nothing left but stirred up earth and human debris mixed in with it. You have to live in it. If I come back, I'll be glad I saw it because I'll have seen war at its worst. You can't go any further - it's impossible"...
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